Political news & views without the spin of mainstream media

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News and Views is a column containing an assortment of interesting national and international political and financial information, opinions, candidate reviews, scheduled events, Tea Party information, meetings and press releases that we hope will interest you.

Quote Of the Day from The Los Angeles Times:“Frankly, I don’t know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I’m not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington , we’re Number One. There’s no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Maxine Waters, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on ‘Macbeth’. The four of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don’t know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words.”–Columnist Burt Prelutsky, Los Angeles Times

Palin Smacks Down NBC’s Lauer: GOP Ticket Will Be ‘Clobbered’ By ‘Lamestream Media

On last Tuesday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer pressed Sarah Palin on whether the Republican nominee should pick a vice presidential running mate with more experience than she had in 2008. Palin hit back: “I would say it doesn’t matter if that person has national level experience or not, they’re going to get clobbered by the lamestream media, who does not like the conservative message.” [Listen to the audio]

Lauer denigrated Palin’s qualifications as he asked: “When you were plucked from obscurity in 2008 you’d been Alaska’s governor about two years. You didn’t have any real experience on the national stage….Do you think, if Mitt Romney’s the nominee, he should choose someone with more experience on the national battlefield than you had at the time?”

Lauer and his fellow Obama-apologists refuse to consider the fact that Barack Obama had virtually no real-world experience before entering the White House. Compared to Palin, his government or business experience was negligible.

Palin issued a warning to her fellow Republicans:

The GOP ticket, to tell you the truth, Matt, doesn’t know what’s coming. They don’t know what’s going to hit them in terms of double standards being applied to them and the positions that they hold, and the records that they are running on, from, you know, personal family issues to anything else. There will be that double standard applied no matter who it is.

Walsh Calls on President to Distance Himself from Muslim Brotherhood

“I call on the President not to meet with or recognize groups that do not respect women’s rights and basic freedoms.”

Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-8) released the following statement in response to President Obama’s meeting April 5 with the Muslim Brotherhood, the most dominant political organization in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has had one of the worst women’s rights records in the Middle East and upon assuming power in Egypt after the fall of President Mubarak, they have illustrated this fact. The Brotherhood has scaled back the right to legally seek a divorce and the right to make basic educational choices for their children, and in 2007 their platform forbid that a woman could be President of Egypt.

Walsh stated: “It’s disappointing that an Administration – which continues to use inflammatory rhetoric against Republicans by using terms such as ‘War on Women’ – would meet with the Muslim Brotherhood. This is a group that would be happy to see women’s rights returned to the Stone Age. The President is sending an unclear message. Just this week he felt the need to speak out against women not being admitted into Augusta National, but a day later is meeting with a group that discriminates against women. Which is it?

“The Muslim Brotherhood represents the exact opposite of American ideals: freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and women’s rights. It is insulting that the President would meet with a group that blatantly disregards religious freedom on the eve of Passover and Good Friday, and a group that does not even recognize Israel’s right to exist. I call on the President not to meet with or recognize groups that do not respect women’s rights and basic freedoms.”

Bigots Can’t Stand Obama Being “Biggest Man in the World”

Host Piers Morgan: “Did you think America, Mike, has become more or less racist since Barack Obama, an African-American, became President?…That it’s become worse?”Mike Tyson: “A hundred percent, yes. Because that’s how these groups surface, these red — Tea Party and everything. Listen, it’s new stuff, being a black man, having the image of the strongest man on the planet, the biggest man in the world…. That must be pretty tough to take in when you — I don’t know. It’s just the way this country is.”— Exchange on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, March 29.

“Strategy for the 2012 Election”Hosted by the Huntley Tea Party

It’s the, “bottom of the ninth” and we must decide on the best path to follow to help ensure a “Conservative” outcome in the general election. This is the most important election in our lifetimes. Our children and grandchildrenwill inherit what we do now ~ let’s make them proud.

You must purchase lunch. We’ve been given a special price for the buffet and drink. Please tell them you’re with the Tea Party to get the discount. See you there ~ bring your ideas

Illinois Congresswoman Judy Biggert

Veterans Housing Help
Sadly, one-fifth of our nation’s homeless population consists of veterans. Readapting to civilian life is not always easy, but research shows that with a stable living situation, our veterans are far more likely to overcome other challenges. This week, the House approved the Homes for Heroes Act which I co-sponsored to ensure that HUD and the VA are working hand-in-hand to serve veterans. The legislation also requires an annual report on the housing needs of homeless veterans and a plan to meet those needs.On a related note, I was pleased to learn that the Hines VA Hospital, which serves many of the veterans in our communities, received a $760,000 grant to provide rental assistance for 100 homeless veterans. For more, click here.

Dastardly GOP “Robber Barons” vs. “Clear-Eyed” News Media

Editor’s Note: If I didn’t know Woodward believed this, I’d laugh – I’m not laughing. This man is so far removed from reality, he believes this dribble.

“There will be a Republican running against Obama, and Senator McCain said under the Supreme Court decision all of the new 21st century robber barons, let’s call them what they are, can put tens of millions of dollars into the campaign. It’s negative, its poison, it’s venom, and we — NBC, the New York Times, Washington Post, the people in the media — are going to be under — I think we’re going to be tested to say can we present a clear-eyed view of who the candidates are…and not just have this negative atmosphere. I mean that is — I’ve never seen anything like it. And during the Nixon era they had a slush fund of $700,000. Now the slush fund is probably going to be $100 million. My God, what they’re going to do.”— Washington Post editor and author Bob Woodward on Meet the Press,
March 18.

What about Obama’s Billion Dollar slush fund, Bobby?

Is He Serious or Delirious?

White House Praises Tax Cuts in Communist China: While making positive comments about the most recent five-year-plan developed by the Communist government of the People’s Republic of China, Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats specifically applauded China’s decision to lower taxes because it would spur economic growth.

“What’s really encouraging to me is that there are a lot of groups in China that are reform-minded,” Hormats said while addressing a group of foreign reporters in New York City last week. “And if you look at the 12th Five-Year Plan, a lot of what is in the 12th Five-Year Plan in China is very consistent with the kind of things we would like China to do in the interest of the global system,” said Hormats

Did “Evildoer” Dick Cheney Get a Heart He Didn’t Deserve?

“Did Dick do a dick thing and leapfrog a bunch of other worthies, people who aren’t viewed by some as war criminals and evildoers but rather are decent folk decades younger, likelier to contribute to society and to provide a better return on investment for our taxpayer health-care dollars?…Old man Cheney and his million-dollar heart serve to remind us just how ugly health care can be when it is a simple commodity given to someone with friends in high places, even if he (possibly) did get the organ through routine channels. He now and forever is the poster child for why health care must be a right, not the latest luxe trinket for those few who can afford it.”— Kent Sepkowitz, a writer and infectious-disease specialist writing at the Newsweek/Daily Beast Web site, March 26.

Those Stupid, Stupid Voters

“To me, some of these poll results, they just seem stupid. So I asked Alex Burns, ‘Why don’t you do a piece that looks at the question of whether voters are stupid and a lot of the things that they say in these polls are just plain stupid?’ Alex warmed to the assignment and he wrote this. He actually found a number of good voices from pollsters who say, ‘Yeah, that’s the first thing you learn as a pollster, voters are stupid.’”— Politico editor and former Washington Post correspondent John Harris during Politico Live broadcast of primary voting results, March 13

The Media’s Hate For Cheney Never Ends

Newsweek/Daily Beast assignment editor Allison Yarrow: “Can you imagine being that organ donor? I mean, it’s such a difficult decision to say ‘I want to give my body to someone else after I’m dead.’”Newsweek senior writer Ramin Setoodeh: “To Dick Cheney? I would never give my heart to Dick Cheney. It would freeze over.”Yarrow: “I would never do it. I’d say ‘give me my heart back.’ Exactly …”Host/columnist John Avlon: “Seriously, the ill will toward Dick Cheney getting a heart transplant is stunning.”Yarrow: “He may be one of the most evil people in the world.”— Exchange on Newsweek/Daily Beast’s daily “NewsBeast” Web show, March 26.

CNN: Some Republican Judges Are ‘Deranged by Hatred of Obama

CNN’s senior legal analyst charged on Thursday’s Starting Point that “some of these Republican judges are just deranged by hatred of the President.” Jeffrey Toobin was railing against the three-judge panel on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court that had made the Justice Department write a three page memo about the Obama administration’s take on judicial review. Toobin, who on Wednesday’s The Situation Room denounced the judges for having “a hissy fit,” on Thursday morning called the act a “disgrace.” However, though President Obama had said the Supreme Court overturning his health care law would be “unprecedented” and “judicial activism,” Toobin defended his remarks as “entirely appropriate.”

And on the same evening:

On Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams accused a federal judge of bringing politics into the judicial process simply by ordering the Justice Department to explain controversial comments President Obama made against the Supreme Court: “Politics are ideally supposed to stay out of the nation’s courtrooms, but that’s not what happened this week in a federal courtroom in Texas.” In report that followed, correspondent Pete Williams proclaimed: “The political controversy spilled into a Texas federal court, where the rules are designed to filter out politics, interrupting arguments about a challenge to part of the Obama health care law.”

And Finally:

NBC News Apologizes for ‘Error’ in Editing of Trayvon Martin Story

The Trayvon Martin case has become a lightning rod for controversy, with the facts of the tragic case becoming the centerpiece of what is slowly beginning to look like a nationwide media war. And to media cynics on both sides, that information warring is only proving that, to paraphrase a popular TV show, when you play the game of ratings, you win or you lie.

NBC News and its partner MSNBC haven’t been on the winning side recently. In fact, two recent incidents have been very unkind to the company. First, there was the revelation that NBC News might have doctored a clip of a 911 call made by shooter George Zimmerman before his confrontation with Trayvon Martin. The original call ran as follows:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.

The altered NBC News version simply ran this way:

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.

Now NBC News has actually issued a public apology for the editing of the clip, along with an assurance that they will be conducting an investigation to find out how the version was aired. Here’s the text of their statement, as posted by the Washington Post:

“During our investigation it became evident that there was an error made in the production process that we deeply regret. We will be taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future and apologize to our viewers.”

Unfortunately for Toure, he might have been too aggressive himself. In fact, he had to specifically apologize via Twitter for what Yahoo News called a “meltdown.” The damage, however, was done

The most stunning admission yet came from something called a Touré, which is apparently an MSNBC contributor. Touré apparently got tired of being on a television channel no one watches so he went on Piers Morgan last week to take Piers to task for the journalistic crime of getting both sides of the story:

You know, at NBC, in the hallways, we were laughing at you today,” Touré told Morgan. “We wouldn’t take [Robert Zimmerman]. Standards and Practices at NBC wouldn’t let him get through door. And you had him on the air and allowed the hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands or whatever number of people watch your show listen to what he had to say.

This is the first time anyone can remember an alleged news figure explicitly stating that his network had a policy against allowing one of the major players in a national news story to give his side. Our favorite part of Touré’s hysterical rant was his indignation at the fact that people would hear what Zimmerman had to say. One thing is clear – the way the media has been covering this story so far validates that Touré really was telling the truth. Journalistic Standards and Practices apparently don’t allow for any coverage of the Trayvon Martin story that would suggest that the race pimps who are currently hustling this story don’t have it right.

This repeated necessity for a major network to walk back its coverage, or for its contributors to apologize, is not a good sign for the company in question